Moving Plans — SRRV

I promised I would talk more about the Special Resident Retiree Visa before I got deeper into the mechanics of moving.  It’s always a toss up to decide how much or how little detail to include in these posts .. looking back over the past few days I sense I have been too verbose, so I’ll try to do better and breaking things into bite-size "lumps".

The SRRV has been around for some years now.  For years it had the reputation among foreigners that it was a program where you "bought" a visa and it was nothing but a useless expanse, only for rich people, etc.

Well, it does require that you make an investment, so for those who consider that buying a visa, so be it … but it’s a very viable program, it’s very "alive", that is many important changes have come about in just the past few years, and for those not married to a Philippine citizen/former Philippine citizen, it is a very viable consideration.   Let’s look at the pros and cons:

SRRV Pros:

• Gives you the option to reside permanently in the Philippines. 
• It gives you an indefinite-stay status.
• Provides you with multiple-entry privileges that allows you to go in or out of the country at anytime.
• Exempts you from securing the exit & re-entry clearances from the Bureau of Immigration
• Exempts you from the payment of Travel Taxes (conditions apply).
• You can work in the Philippines subject to the issuance of an Alien Employment Permit (AEP).
• You can start your own business in the Philippines.
• Entitles you to bring two (2) of your dependents (spouse and/or unmarried children 20 years old). 
• You or any family member wishing to study will not need a Special Study Permit or Student’s Visa.
• You can purchase and own your condominium unit or lease a parcel of land anywhere in the Philippines.
• You may also invest in golf memberships or in shares of stock traded in the Philippine Stock Exchange.
• You may import household goods and other personal effects (worth up to $7000 USD) tax-free.

SRRV Cons:

• You must be 35 years of age or older to avail.
• You must make an approved investment.  Amounts vary from $75,000 USD down to $1500 USD.
• There is an application fee.
• There are yearly fees.
• If you decide to withdraw your investment (which you can do at any time) you revert to tourist status.
• You do, of course, pay tax on investment profits, as you would on any other Philippines-source income.

I am not a salesman for the SRRV … and I don’t hold one (I’m married to a Philippine Citizen and can hold long-term residency without the SRRV).  But I do think the program’s plusses and minus’s stack up very highly into the plus side of the  ledger, and for those who are single, those who have a life-partner they are not married to, or for married couples who are both non-Filipino it is the best game in town.  SRRV website is here.

And a special note for those (there are a lot of you out there) who absolutely won’t live in a condo, or want to live somewhere where condos don’t even exist, I hope you have been looking at some of the properties I’ve been writing about here … and will continue to write about.  Rents on big city condos can be huge, there is certainly the potential for significant profit,  The SRRV program says you have to make an investment, it does not say you have to live in it.  Worthy of careful consideration.

I am a salesman of these products, though, and if you haven’t gotten your copies yet, better move fast.  As long as you have passed that magic 35th birthday, you can make the move any time  … you don’t have to wait until you are old and gray like me.

Next edition?  How to get the forms and who to talk to.

Related posts:

1. Moving Plans — Permissions
2. Moving Plans — Forms and Help
3. Moving Plans — Phones
4. Moving Plans — Shifting Boxes
5. Moving Plans — Introduction